Categories

Archives

My Adventures With Anime

Please Note: This was previsouly posted on my LJ account for February Fandom Fest but I thought I should share it here also since it's basically the story of how I got into Anime and such.

As of right now I have fallen in love all over again with Anime oddly enough with what started my love for Anime in the first place Sailor Moon. I don't know how many of you know this bust Sailor Moon first started airing in the US in the early 90's not to say that I had not watched other Anime before Sailor Moon, I had, in fact I still remember a show about a Stuffed Koala that when the girl touched his nose with her nose he came to life. Now for the life of me I don't remember the title of said show, since it was in the late 80's I watched it and I was like 4 years old at the time so I never really paid any attention to the titles of shows back then, all I knew was that it captivated me, I thought it was cute and sweet and that was about it. Then there where the Thunder Birds I believe is what they where called, a show about teenagers and a kid who dressed up in bird suits and flew airplanes and jets to fight bad guys it was pretty fun too.

After that I fell into watching the Disney Afternoon and stopped watching Anime for a bit, but then at the age of 10 or so one Saturday morning I turned on the TV and there right before my eyes was this awesome show about girls with super powers, fighting evil, kicking ass and being amazingly and almost unrealistically good friends. Ok so maybe not unrealistically, but as far as my own personal experience I had never had friends like these five girls did.

Needless to say I fell in love with the show right away, but for some reason or the other, I lost track of it until 1999 when Toonami on Cartoon Network showed up and bam! I was in love with Sailor Moon all over again and to boot there where other Anime's too like Dragon Ball Z. I had watched Dragon Ball about the same time I had first watched Sailor Moon back in 1995 or so and it thrilled me to no end to see Goku all grown up and with a kid of his own and no tail but just an all kicking ass Super Seyan. I also started watching Pokemon, Digimon and Card Capture Sakura, that here in the US was called just Card Captors with out the Sakura in the title. So here I was watching these shows and loving it, I also watched Tenchi Muyo, Ramna ½ and I'm sure there where others but those are the ones I can remember at the moment.

So my love for Anime started thing was though, I had only seen the Dubbed versions of these shows until a friend of mine from my class whom I was also sort of dating at the time, though I would have not admitted it back then, introduced me to a VHS Anime Rental shop and I rented my first ever Sub VHS of Sailor Moon, yes I went with something I knew, so I watched the episode was surprised by it and absolutely loved it, then I went on to buy my first ever Sub Sailor Moon VHS but my mother being a pain in the ass told me to unsubscribe from the Anime Only Renting shop. So I said sure not really knowing how stupid I was being. I could have been introduced to more wonderful Anime if I had stayed with the FREE membership for the Anime Rental but whatever the mistakes we teenagers do.

As time went on I watched some other shows like Inuyasha and some others that where starting at the time. By then I was 18 years old and I was headed to the Art Institute of Fort. Lauderdale and I met some very wonderful like minded folk, that loved not only doing art but Anime and Disney and all the weird stuff I was into, jackpot! Lucky for me also that's where I met my current love and best friend. Yes I met my current boyfriend back in college but, that's another story entirely different. Anyways meeting people that were into the same things I was made me really happy though then I started getting sick and had to leave The Art Institute of Fort. Lauderdale and move back home with my mom in Puerto Rico. See here's the thing when I was growing up Anime lovers or Cosplayers or what have you “outsiders “as they called us back then where scarce, they where not seen or heard off, for the same fear of being bullied and such. So I toned things down way down, and started just watching what everyone else was into Celebrity stuff yuck! Now that I look back on it I don't know how I was ever into the mainstream stuff because that's just not like me at all, this lasted for quite a while and though some things where ok because I did like Disney so Lizzie McGuire happened and yes even all the way to Hanna Montanna and I do believe I still have some Fanfiction of HM at FF.net ,I was not exactly being true to myself in the sense I was also fallowing the whole Celebrity part of it, that's the part that was not me and never really be me, oh this also happened with One Tree Hill too. But still even so those shows did help me find my love for Fanfiction and for that I'm grateful to them, thankfully hardly any of that is out there lol (^_^) plus now I mostly write @ AO3.

Then recently in 2013 my boyfriend got Netflix and I started watching new Anime! To me at least, Ouran High School Host Club, Rosario+ Vampire, Chobbits, Madoka Magica and whatever else I could find that took my interest sort of like My Little Pony Friendship is Magic though not Anime I still think it was a worthy find on Netflix. Then online I found Kiss Anime and I was able to watch even more Anime like Strawberry Panic, Sakura Trick, Girlfriend (Kari) , Yuru Yuri and so much more that I don't even remember itt all. I now finally have Crunchyroll and Hulu so I can watch new Anime legally any time I wish and find new wonderful Anime at the click of a control button. Yay, for internet service and streaming host!

Now my world of Anime is growing each and every day and while most of this stuff is old for almost everyone to me is new and is still valid and wonderful to watch. I love Anime , I have loved it for a long time even before I knew what it was. It brings me happiness and joy to watch and I think is great to be able to see such creations made by others in other parts of the world, weather in it's original language or our very own language. I know there will always be something new around the corner and more Anime's are being made each day based on Mangas or actual events or completely made up. One of those wonderful stories that comes to mind to me is Kiki's Delivery Service, something original and so simple and yet wonderful.

I don't know why I ever turned my back on Anime for the years I did and I wish I hadn't perhaps I would be in even more fandoms now, but still is great to be back to a love that never truly left my heart. <3

Side note: I just noticed this little Fandom Appreciation post talked about almost everything I have ever been and am a fan of lol It doesn't hurt I suppose but it is mostly about the Anime which is what I intentionally wanted to write about in the first place (^_^)